The Muslim Brotherhood has condemned the United Nations’ just-released declaration on women’s rights, saying it’s a blatant violation of Egypt’s Islamic law.

Kenneth Weene's insight:

There is no way around it: There is an inherent conflict between many traditional religious points of view and modern attitudes towards women, gays, and children. Whether we are talking Muslim, Jewish, Catholic, Orthodox, Hindu, or Evangelical Christian, there is a difference between what faiths teach and the emphasis on the value inherent in the individual that is the bedrock belief of democracy.

The Vandals were a nomadic Germanic tribe who represented the worst of the word "barbarian." Now. we have met the vandals and they are us. And we Americans wonder why the rest of the world consider us louts.

I was able to turn my pain into something that could benefit someone else

Kenneth Weene's insight:

The old saying is "Don't throw out the baby with the bathwater." In this case the baby is not a fetus but the right of women to make intelligent decisions about pregnancy. Mrs. Lyon has courageously shared her painful story to remind us how horrible the consequences of again criminalizing abortion will be. The fetus she and her husband aborted would have had a horrible life, her care would have sapped their marriage and probably stopped them from having their son, who is obviously a joy, As for the research to which they provided tissue, we can only hope that it will bear fruit in preventing suffering by others. Abortion should not be used as casual birth control, but it has a real benefit to many.

There is an interesting story out of Massachusetts where an official at the Massachusetts Civil Service Commission found that the Methuen Police Department admitted that job applicants were given h...

Kenneth Weene's insight:

There are many honest and decent police officers, but it is stories like this one that make us all question the wisdom of putting people into such positions of authority. Hopefully, the city of Methuen will find a way to rid themselves of this problem.

In Iowa, Mr. Trump disparaged Mr. McCain’s Vietnam War record, saying: “He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”

Kenneth Weene's insight:

Perhaps the world is coming to an end. That I'm defending John McCain is unprecedented. However, just as I would take up arms to defend my home from a crazed want-to-be Muslim on his own mission to reach Allah via a suicide bombing, I want to defend Mr. McCain from an asshole who is every bit as crazy and unconnected to the meaning of anything as that hypothetical bomber. Indeed, that is what Trump has become, a madman on his own self-directed jihad ready to heave bombs wherever he can. Reality, while Mr. McCain was shot down, he suffered terribly and didn't crack. That makes him pretty heroic. When offered early release by his captors in order to embarrass the U.S. because his father was an admiral. Mr. McCain didn't accept that personal advantage. Again, damned heroic. If you want to know more about people like Trump, you'll find one in Memoirs From the Asylum along with lots of other great characters.

A troubling story posted Wednesday night by an ABC affiliate in Chicago is picking up momentum online Thursday: The case of Sandra Bland, a black woman from Naperville, Illinois who was stopped by police in Waller County, Texas for making an improper lane change last Friday and ended up dead...

A human rights group publishes a video it says contradicts the account of an Israeli army officer who shot dead a Palestinian teenager a week ago.

Kenneth Weene's insight:

Pesky reality getting in the say of those who believe that force makes right. We should all be thankful for video cameras and cellphones with video. That may actually help contain the bullies of the world, including some Israeli army personnel and out-of-line American cops

A Kentucky county clerk's refusal to issue marriage licenses is being sued. A federal judge will hear the case Monday.

Kenneth Weene's insight:

I have no problem with conscientious objectors who didn't serve in the military as long as they served in an alternative manner. So, too, I have no problem with those who are conscientious objectors to being county clerks because of what they consider a religiously onerous duty that is involved. I am all for them being offered alternative ways to serve their communities. But, just as other soldiers filled the ranks of the military, so, too, should other persons fill the ranks of the county clerks. Nobody has the right to a job, especially a government job, and they certainly don't then have a right to ignore the law.

Video shows officers attacking Tyree Carroll and calling him a ‘piece of shit.’ The district attorney’s office says it has no plans to investigate yet.

Kenneth Weene's insight:

We can hope that the availability of video on phones will eventually change police practices. Even assuming that Mr. Carroll was carrying crack cocaine and that there was grounds to make a stop, the use of excessive force is so egregious as to be totally unacceptable. We can only hope that the federal justice department will launch an investigation. Every incident like this makes it harder for the many good cops out there to perform their duties and harder to get the cooperation of the community.

Russia vetoes a draft UN Security Council resolution describing the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of Muslim men and boys as "genocide".

Kenneth Weene's insight:

I do not know if this massacre can be called a genocide since it is a specific evil event rather than a series of such of events such as the genocide of the American Indians or the Jews of Europe or the Armenians of Turkey (and the list goes on). But what I do know is that it was an act of pure evil and that the Serbian government has never admitted to that simple moral reality. Like so many of the American vetoes cast to protect its client state of Israel from just moral condemnation, Russia has acted in a manner that casts doubt on its government's capacity to provide moral leadership in the world. I would have hoped for an alternative resolution that condemned the act and the ethnic-religious hatred behind it rather than leaving this scar on modern history unaddressed.

Well worth reading if you are planning on traveling. One added tip from me: Bring and use antiseptic hand-wipes. That extra care about getting your hands contaminated when using bathrooms is often justified, especially in places lacking in modern cleaning products.

Kansas governor issues executive order aimed at protecting religious liberties in wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's same-sex marriage decision.

Kenneth Weene's insight:

Once again we see a Republican politician pushing divisiveness for his own reasons. The Supreme Court order in no way would force a clergyperson to perform a gay marriage if it were against his faith. However, when it comes to that religiously affiliated hospital, there may be a legal battle in which the hospital will and should lose. In the meantime, a loving gay couple will not be able to share the trials and pain of illness or even death in the way that is one of the intended benefits marriage should provide. I will say this of Hell, anyone who would keep a loving spouse from being beside his/her dying loved one because of their sexual orientation deserves to roast there. And if Jesus reigns in Heaven as Christians believe, from what I know of his mythos, JC will be the first to kick their asses down the stairs.

The companies say new customers under the Affordable Care Act have been sicker than expected, while federal officials say they want the requests scaled back.

Kenneth Weene's insight:

A few observations: 1) This once again makes the case for single payer healthcare. 2) The insurance company actuaries didn't understand that many people who didn't have insurance were sick—wasn't that the whole point of the discussion of medical bankruptcies? 3) How much of the "direct subscriber benefits" is waste to gin up the costs so insurance companies can make higher absolute profits? For example, why does my local insurance coordinator offer WEI bowling? 4) And this is a biggie! How do we decide on what are and are not appropriate treatments and preventative measures? Including in this, to what extent can we cut medical care costs by making sure people have proper living conditions and nutrition. 5) To what extent will the large increase in demand for services smooth out once people have access to health care for a while? For example, will giving children more preventative care lower costs for those people down the road?

Finally, and this seems to me to be the crux: Should the cost of those requiring special and extensive care, such as cancer patients, be subsidized by the government with payments to the insurance companies? Is that a legitimate expense for the government in order to keep the rest of the marketplace stable and rational?

Cops wouldn't make "bad decisions" if "the perp didn't run away" VIDEO

Kenneth Weene's insight:

Perhaps if Black men (and women) could assume that they would receive courteous and lawful treatment at the hands of police, this advice would make better sense. But when a Black woman doesn't put out her cigarette, which she is smoking in her car, and ends up incarcerated and dead, well, that raises a question. Sure, fleeing over a traffic stop is dumb and should result in serious punishment, but firing that gun was totally wrong and every thinking person knows that were Mr. Dubose a white man the shot would not have been fired. Of course, the real problem is that Fox commentators are not what one might call thinking people. I wonder what they'll have to say about today's news that evidently the juvenile justice system in St. Louis is totally different for Blacks and Whites. Hmm, what s surprise that one is——not!

As the video of Sandra Bland’s arrest makes its way into homes and offices around the country, people are aghast that the failure to use a turn signal led to a woman’s arrest and, ultimately, her death by what officials have identified as suicide. People want to know if the officer’s actions—asking that Bland put out her cigarette and demanding that she step out of her car—were legal. But that’s the wrong question. Instead, we should be asking whether it was good policing.

Kenneth Weene's insight:

The question that next requires addressing is, "Would the mistakes made by the officer have occurred were Ms. Bland white?" Clearly, the officer was going through the motions of respect but not really providing it. He was following the law, but he was not according the woman the presumption of worth that underlies that law.

There have been plenty of instances in which passers-by have failed to help someone on the street. However the act of filming the event seems to take the response to a new level of depravity. http://maryemartintrilogies.com

Conservative media outlets have covered the video extensively. Abortion opponents have alleged the video shows there is a black market for fetal tissue, and the originators of the video allege Planned Parenthood is breaking the law. The apparently casual, some might say callous, tone of the Planned Parentho

Kenneth Weene's insight:

The saddest thing is that the trolls could have simply gone to Planned Parenthood to obtain the information. Instead, they lie and insinuate, which says a great deal about them and nothing about PP's completely legal and ethical behavior. Reality is that the providing of fetal tissue to researchers is a boon to science. There is no sale, only when necessary reimbursement for transport. The silly woman from Planned Parenthood should have screened the "interviewers" as carefully as they screen the tissue recipients. As for the callous quality of the woman's comments, I think such an attitude is sadly necessary when talking about such topics. Otherwise, the sadness of the woman who have come for abortions would overwhelm the providers. Remember, nobody wants to see abortions happen. In fact, Planned Parenthood does more than any group on the right to help prevent unwanted and problematic pregnancies.

Be it a nursing home, a psych hospital, or even an elementary school, institutions tend to become more about maintaining their system and less about the needs of the clients, patients, or students for whose welfare the institutions were first created. That is one of the themes running through my novel Memoirs From the Asylum as well as the point of this news story.

Donald Trump will hold a rally in Arizona this weekend with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the Arizona Republic reports, a function that has the potential to set a new high water mark for anti-immigration sentiment verbalized at a single Republican primary event. The gathering was moved from a Phoenix...

Kenneth Weene's insight:

I ask my Latino friends to turn out at election time and help turn Arpaio and the Republican party out of office and control here in Arizona. If the Hispanic population of this state ever finds its political will, our community will be a far better place for us all.

Police punched an autistic teen in the face and slammed him to the ground for no legitimate reason, a new lawsuit charges.

Kenneth Weene's insight:

If Commissioner Bill Bratton's response at the end of this article is accurate, why haven't the three officers involved been identified and dealt with. Obviously, they failed their training. In the end, the city will pay, but will the police department be at all improved? My feeling is that individual police officers who behave inappropriately must be punished directly including having to bear some of the cost of any legal settlement. Then, and only then, will all cops know that they have a responsibility to behave appropriately.

The phenomenon reflects our confusion about diet and anything touted as a life-extending elixir.

Kenneth Weene's insight:

We Americans are always buying into one fad or another. Science requires replication and control for alternative explanations. However, when it comes to diet supplements and alternative medicines, the American public is willing to believe any and every one. It would be a good thing if we had a government agency responsible for evaluating scientific research and making sure that excessive claims were not being made. Instead, the government agencies that exist seem to open their own gates to the claims without due and proper evaluation. That something doesn't do harm should, IMHO, not be sufficient. That said, I will fess up, I do take one supplement about which I have no proof other than a friend's recommendation. And I do take a few vitamins, but I don''t take a lot. How about you, my friend?

Two members of the Marion County Republican committee resigned on Monday after they flew three Confederate flags from the county GOP's float in a local Independence Day parade on Saturday, the Des Moines Register reported.

Owen and Linda Golay, both members of the Marion County, Iowa, Republicans' central committee, pulled the GOP's parade float behind their truck, from which they hung three Confederate flags. Owen Golay also hung signs detailing the congressional acts that have recognized Conf

Kenneth Weene's insight:

The fascinating comment for me in this article says that the confederate soldiers were veterans. I wonder if this GOP idiot would say the same of Gestapo soldiers from WWII or perhaps Santa Anna's soldiers from the Alamo. While I understand that the owner of a float has the right to fly what he wants from it, it is up to the organizers of a parade to make it clear what is and what is not acceptable to their organization. That's why St. Patrick's Day parades have been an issue in the battle for GAY rights. At any rate, this entire debacle illustrates how the Republican party has lost sight of American history in its service to the extreme right. If it's time to take America back, let's start by getting rid of the GOP and replacing it with a party that encourages actual thinking.

They help guide patients through a complex, fragmented and confusing system, assisting them with appointments, bills, transportation and other obstacles to care.

Kenneth Weene's insight:

The greater question, the one which few are willing to discuss, is "How much assistance should society give to those who are less able to cope?" Cancer and its terror is one situation. Release from incarceration, mental illness, physical disabilities, cognitive limitations: the list goes on. We tend in the U.S. to see a black and white separation of the "fit versus the unfit" and to offer total supervision versus total freedom. It may be time to rethink that approach and realize that people may need more supportive care. Offering such health navigators is a beginning to that awareness. Providing such assistance may also provide a new form of employment in a world that requires fewer hands-on employees.

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